Recycling is more than just acting out of concern for the environment. Statistics indicate that the recycling sector has grown 40% since 1996 and according to The Georgia Recycling Coalition, recycling facilities now outnumber landfills 2 to 1. That is remarkable progress in the drive to zero waste.
The recycling industry has also benefited local communities with jobs for drivers, sorters, mechanics, machinists, and managers. Recycling is important enough that the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics is beginning to track and categorize “green jobs” to help create policy initiatives. (www.bls.gov/green)
Georgia is #2 in the Country
According to georgiarecycles.org, the State of Georgia is the second highest recycling state in the country. There are two prongs to this: as consumers, we recycle more than 48 other states, AND, Georgia-based companies are the second best at putting recycled materials back in their products.
Plastic Bottle Recycling in Georgia
Georgia, “The Carpet Capital of the World”, re-uses one-third of all PET plastic bottles generated in the US!
Aluminum Can Recycling in Georgia
Novelis, one of largest aluminum manufacturers in world, is headquartered in Atlanta with a mill in Greensboro, GA. Novelis is the world’s largest recycler of used beverage cans. As a result, Novelis is the world’s leading supplier of aluminum sheet metal to the automotive industry and is the largest producer of aluminum beverage can sheet metal.
Glass Recycling in Georgia
Five glass manufacturers source recycled glass in Georgia, including Owens Illinois in metro Atlanta. According to newsletter@wasteDive.com, only three of the nine million tons of glass containers produced in the US annually are recycled, even though glass can be recycled endlessly, with no loss in quality of purity.
Resource-recycling.com announced the $123 million Arglass Yamamura factory under construction in Valdosta, Georgia. It is scheduled to open in 2020 and will reach production capacity in 2021. It’s the first new US glass bottle factory in over a generation; it will add at least 150 new jobs to the community; and it will have an annual production of about 265 million [recycled glass] bottles!
Paper Recycling in Georgia
The pulp/paper industry in Georgia is one of the largest in the nation. 15 Georgia mills incorporate recycled content, and 8 of those use 100% recycled paper.
Why is Recycling Important?
The Georgia Recycling Coalition states that recycling is good for business: it reduces costs, conserves energy and supports sustainable practices. Recycling helps to significantly reduce the greenhouse gas pollution driving climate change. Recycling creates jobs. Low commodity prices are not a sign that recycling isn’t worth it – don’t negate the long term economic, social and environmental benefits of conserving natural resources like water and mined minerals.
Recycling significantly extends the life of many materials, sometimes indefinitely as is the case with aluminum. The reality is that recycling in the US is a vibrant activity and a key driver in domestic and global manufacturing, supplying more than 130 million tons annually of scrap metals, paper, electronics, plastics, rubber, glass, and textiles for manufacture into new products.
Domestically, the scrap recycling industry directly and indirectly supported more than 470,000 well-paying jobs while generating nearly $106 billion in economic activity and $11.2 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue in 2015.
So, go clean out your closets and we will see you at the CHaRM pop-up event the first Saturdays of January, February, March, April, May, and June from 8:00am to 1:00pm.